5 Annoying Guest Posting Errors Writers Must Avoid Like a Plague

I’m a big fan of guest blogging. I have used this very blogging strategy over and over again to take this blog that was launched in a remote village to an enviable height. So, when I see freelance writers abuse guest blogging, it annoys the hell out of me.

Before going on to build this business blog, I worked as a full-time freelance writer, where I made money by helping bloggers develop contents and also build backlinks on their behalf (I talked about all the 30 ways I make money as a writer in my eBook. Get it.) That goes to show that there’s no guest posting prank any guest writers can play on me that I won’t know.

In fact, I was a smart guest blogger long before some of them got the baptism of making money as freelance writers.

Today, guest posting errors are common because a lot of people think they can get away with any guest posting mistake they make. But on the contrary, you can’t. Not with me, especially.

Annoying Guest Posting Errors Writers Must Avoid

Error 1. Sending a Generalized Content

The number one guest posting error every serious writer must avoid like a plague is pitching blog owners generalized contents that can easily be sourced a thousand times on the internet.

In today’s world of heavyweight blogging competition, I feel embarrassed when I receive guest post title suggestions such as; “How to start a business, How to make money in business, Internet marketing mistakes, How to use social media in business, etc.”

While I believe these are amazing topics that would make great blog posts, what annoys me most is when I look through the article only to discover that there’s nothing new in what they have to say – just a spin of what’s already published a thousand times.

Error 2. Stuffing a Guest Article with External Links

What guest posting error can be more annoying than seeing 10 external links in one article? In worst case scenario, none of those 10 links will point to the host blog.

I had an altercation with one when I declined her article for failing to meet up with our guest posting rules and regulations, and she said; “Don’t you know that the more you link out to other blogs, the more your domain authority rises.” I was like, “What? Does this one think she’s chatting with an amateur blogger?”

Though linking out isn’t bad but if you have interest in having a higher domain authority, then you must learn how expert bloggers give links to other blogs without getting involved in any of the reasons why Google penalize blogs.

More often than not, they do this using nofollow link. This is what a nofollow link looks like:

<a href=”https://www.yoursitehere.com” rel=”nofollow”>Anchor text</a>

When you use it, you are invariably telling Google crawler not to award any endorsement from your site to the site you are linking to. If you are guest blogger struggling with having your guest post published, chances are, you are guilty of keyword stuffing or stuffing a host blogger’s blog with too many links.

Error 3. Writing What You Want Instead of What the Blog Owner Wants

If we publish all the guest posts from different writers and bloggers that come to our desk on daily basis, I can assure you that we will be having at least 3 new articles every day. But you know why we don’t and will never do that? Most people desiring to become guest writers on our business blog only write what they want, not what we want. They don’t read what we have in our Write for Us Page.

One thing every amateur blogger has in common is that they think all articles can fit into just any blog. If not, what guest posting blunder should make a writer submit an article on natural preservation of underground water to a business blog?

How does that connect?

Before pitching a blog owner your guest article, you should be a regular reader of the blog. It doesn’t end there… You should know a lot about their categories, writing style and who they like linking to. If you fail to do your internal research carefully, your series of guest posting requests will continue to be ignored.

Error 4. Forgetting to Reply Comments

It’s possible all the guest posting errors we’ve been talking may not apply to you nor to your freelance writing team. But failure to reply comments creates an unusual task for the blog owner.

Wait a minute, let me add more.

When replying comments, make an intellectual attempt to say what will set your profile apart and get you more clients.

Error 5. Over-promoting Yourself on Another Blogger’s Blog

We banned a young man that used to be a regular contributor to this blog because of excessive self-promotion.

Listen and listen good… As a guest writer, your goal should not be to praise yourself and announce all the great things you’ve achieved. No. You should be focused on solving a specific problem for the audience of your host blogger.

Conclusion

While you work towards overcoming all the 5 annoying guest posting errors I listed out above, it’s important that you don’t fall face-flat for different guest posting myths flying across the web. There’s so much you can achieve when you learn what it takes to write for authority websites like Ryan Biddulph is doing. Referral traffic, rise in influence and income are just but a few wonderful benefits you will get when you manage to avoid all these guest blogging mistakes.

Now over to you.

Let’s have your thought. What other guest posting errors have you made in the past or seen other people make?

Related

I am a multiple Award-winning blogger, CEO of Entrepreneur Business Blog, Chief Evangelist of Ebusinessroom Ventures, Lead Coach of The Excellent Entrepreneurs' Network (TEEN) and Convenor of #NaijaSitUp.
My business is to help you start, manage and grow a profitable and sustainable business using digital marketing strategies.
I have been featured and mentioned on platforms like, BloggingTips, StarterStory, StatusBrew, Realty Times, Emerald TV, SmartBCamp, Blogging from Paradise, Write Worldwide, Enterprise Boom, Atang Magazine, etc. In 2019, my blog won the Best Digital Media Award from AB Afrikpreneur.
When you want to hire a professional to handle your online marketing, I'm your go-to-expert you can speak to. In 2019, I won the Blogger of the Year from the Global Excellence in Marketing Awards, USA and my brainchild, EBB won the Best Digital Media Award at the AB Afrikpreneur Awards.
You can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn with this handle, @EmenikeNg

13 Comments

Hi Emenike,
Recently I’ve received a lot of requests but the people address me as Editor or not at all. They don’t even know my name! Those emails all got deleted. Sigh!
I think adding too many links is a big one Emenike. I need to update my contributor rules on that one. Thanks for the reminders here and have a great weekend.

The big reason why 90% guest post pitches fail is that writers have never visited the site before. They do not understand the true nature of the content already published on the blog.

I recommend that a guest poster must create a healthy professional relationship with the blogger. Leave helpful comments, share quality articles with his followers and consult the webmaster before pitching him for a guest post.

Great write up here! I am fairly new on the scene for writing guests posts, but take your points here with a high grain of salt. I am in the process of building my blogging community, seeing what everyone is writing about, and learning a lot from their articles, such as this one!

For me, when I do my research and keep in touch with you all, I feel much more confident when asking/pitching for a guest post opportunity. There just seems like way many more benefits in taking my time and getting to know bloggers – beyond submitting a quality article.

I have had a few bloggers write for my blog, was easy about my expectations, and not the best idea. This write up has been helpful for me to tighten things up on my end (when pitching), as well as accepting guest posts.